DIY Upsize - Refashion Your Clothes!

Tools and materials:

• Dress
• Material that is the same as the dress
• Tape measure
• Sewing machine
• Fabric scissors

Take your measurements

I started by taking my measurements to figure out how much to add to the dress. I added about 3 inches to my measurements to ensure that the garment won't squeeze me and I’ll have space to move around. Normally you would add 2-3 inches of ease depending on how loose or tight you want your garment to fit you.

Measure the dress

I then measured the bust and the waistline of the dress to work out how much material I need to add to get my desired size. (In this case, the proportions of the bust and waist are 41 inches, and I wanted them to be 53 inches. So I need to add around 7 inches on each side which will include seam allowance).

Open seams and sew

The next step is to open up the seams and sew the panels in. Once I'd done this, I tried it on to see how it looked. I was happy with the result, but I regretted not adding the ruffles and elastic to the panels.

Add the ruffles

My next step is to put elastic on the panels and add a ruffle at the bottom, so it's the same sort of ruffleyness as the dress (yes, I just made up that word). The place that I'm filling in with ruffle is 12 inches wide. A normal ruffle is 2 times the size of the width, but I think that this ruffle is only 1.5 times the size, so my ruffle will be a total of 19 inches (including seam allowance). I'm going to go ahead and do two rows of gathering stitches along the panels, and then I'll be able to attach them onto the dress.

I'm hoping to do some dye work to the dress at a later stage so that it is all the same color. I don't wear this orangey-peachy color, so I'll be dyeing the whole thing. When the whole dress is the same color, it will look even more cohesive.

I’m really happy with the finished result! The thing about upsizing garments is that you have to come at it like it's an experiment. You don't know what you're going to get when you start cutting into things, but if you do it a few times, you start getting really good at it, and you can develop an eye for what will work and what won't work. The great thing about working with thrifted clothes is that if you make a mistake, then it's not like you're ruining a costly item. I hope you now feel a bit more confident when it comes to cutting up your clothes!